It was hard not to! After all, Trump was a successful businessman, he owned multiple franchises, and he had a hit show with a great, quotable tag line: “You’re fired!” He was a sound-bite machine, coming up with pithy, hard-hitting business and life statements that fit perfectly on Facebook and Twitter. A lot of my customers thought so, too. Quotes for Donald Trump were always a popular choice when setting up content streams.

And then he became a U.S. presidential candidate, and it all went to hell. His good quotes turned bad.

You’ve probably heard about the racist comments he made upon filing for candidacy. For those who aren’t aware of it, he basically blamed Mexico, Mexicans and Mexican-Americans for bringing their problems into the United States. They did not take kindly to this, of course, and people have been severing ties with Donald Trump left and right.

Yikes! You wouldn’t want someone like that on your feed, whether you’re using Twitter for business or for fun!

Protecting Feeds with Content Watch

This scenario is one of the major reasons we introduced Content Watch into Nimble Quotes.

We want to make sure every tweet in your business account aligns to your brand. That means only quoting people whose views you support and reflect you as a business.

If any of the authors (I use the term “author” loosely—mainly to indicate whoever said the quote) in our library do anything that would damage the brand you’re trying to project (and I think obscenely racist comments qualify), Content Watch will filter out their quotes from your feed without any action on your part.

You no longer have to worry about quoting people that shoot their mouth off and say reprehensible things—like Mr. Trump.

Sign up for the Nimble Quotes newsletter to receive the newest tips on how to start Twitter conversations and enhance your online experience.

Would you like to get more business leads? Can this really be done through Twitter? Before someone can become a lead, you need to open up the dialogue and start a conversation. Just how can Twitter help you out with that?

Open the Door for Conversation

One way to start a conversation with your Twitter followers is through the use of quotes. Quotes bring people together, stirring them to think about and discuss a like subject. Tweeting an inspiring quote is a friendly ice-breaker; it’s another way to start a conversation than just saying a simple hello. Think of it as a warm handshake – you’re drawing your followers into an inviting, potentially thought-provoking conversation that has nothing to do with work. We can get to the work part; first let’s start a conversation.

This use of quotes can lead to responses on Twitter like:

Favourites

Re-tweets

More followers

Direct messages

These responses are exactly what you’re after. But once you get a response like this, how exactly do you start a conversation with the person?

Now It’s Your Turn

Let’s see how this could work. One of your followers has re-tweeted a quote you’ve posted on Twitter – that’s great! What do you do next? We’ve got a few suggestions to help you strike up a conversation:

If you’re particularly drawn to the quote in question, let your follower know. Tell them it’s one of the quotes you like best (if it is). Explain to them why it’s one of your favourites.

Ask your follower why they’re drawn to that particular quote – for what reason does it resonate with them?

Tell your follower that it’s a great quote to start or end the day with, depending on what time the quote popped up on your feed. Maybe it’s a great quote to start the weekend with.

You can also simply thank your follower for liking or re-tweeting the quote. Show them your appreciation.

Give some of these ideas a try. Do you have other ways to start conversations on Twitter with your audience? Let us know.

Quotes are the Base

However you decide to begin the conversation with your audience, quotes can be an effective base for getting a great first response. Nimble Quotes would love to help you out with this – try out our 30-day free trial! You’ll get 1-8 quotes per day from a choice of 10+ categories and the ability to add your own hashtags. Click here to learn more. Not ready? Sign up for our newsletter instead or follow @jenkellyjen to see Nimble Quotes in action on a Twitter account.

If you’re on Twitter, then you’ve probably already noticed the hashtags many people put on their tweets (e.g. #FunnyTweets). I’ve already spoken about what they are and the basics of how to use them, but today I’d like to talk about why to use them.

A lot of entrepreneurs don’t really use Twitter hashtags or understand them, despite being active and having lots of tweets. But hashtags can be a great way to get your messages read by other people and, even better, find conversations that you can use to engage the community. Here’s how:

Helping engagement

Follow events and discussions. Many people add a hashtag to associate their tweets with a specific topic or event. If they end your tweet with #FIFA2015, for example, other people who follow that hashtag will be able to see the tweet and respond to it. You can take advantage of this by following a hashtag and participating in the discussion.

Just remember that your message has to be appropriate to the hashtag and contribute something to the conversation, otherwise people will get annoyed at the obvious marketing ploy!

Research. You can using hashtags to get a quick look at what people are saying online about a particular topic. This is great for researching popular trends that you might want to jump in on, or for monitoring fields of interest. You can even create lists of hashtags to follow to keep tabs on new developments.

But what about when you’re the one doing the tweeting? How do Twitter hashtags help you get noticed or get better responses?

Getting read

Use with links to drive engagement. If you’ve got a blog or something else to share on Twitter, adding a hashtag to the end of the tweet is the equivalent of putting an ad on TV. It helps spread the link around and get it in front of people who don’t normally follow your Twitter feeds.

Just be careful not to overdo it, though! Only use one hashtag per tweet (or two, maximum). Too many hashtags can be very annoying, so restrain yourself!

Provide context. It can be very easy to get misinterpreted online, so hashtags are a great way to provide context for your tweets. This is also if you’re quoting someone and relating that quote to a particular theme or topic.

Emphasis. Hashtags can also be creatively used to provide additional emphasis to a statement—or as the punchline to a joke (E.g. “Spilled wine #BadFirstDate”). A sharp contrast between the hashtag and the actual tweet can give an entertaining sense of irony. In this case, the hashtags aren’t there to organize or categorize the tweet, but to make the tweet itself more interesting and shareable.

So try incorporating a few hashtags based on my suggestions! Take a look at how other brands are using tweets, too, and adopt some of their best practices. Pretty soon, you’ll be able to hashtag with the best of them!

Nimble Quotes includes default hashtags with each quote category choice, and the option for your own custom hashtags. Learn more and sign up for your 30-day trial.

So you’ve decided to start tweeting thought-provoking quotes from your Twitter account. Great decision. But how do you get your followers to stop and really think about the quotes you’ve tweeted? How do you start conversations on Twitter? That’s where engagement hooks come in.

“Engagement Hooks” – What Are They?

At Nimble Quotes, we’ve created a little something called an “engagement hook”. It’s a type of conversation starter for your quote – an intriguing statement or a thought-provoking question to lead into the quote. We include these to help our users connect and get involved in the Twitter conversation.

Using Engagement Hooks to Start Conversations on Twitter

The engagement hook is a way to get people to really think about the quote that you’re tweeting. An enthusiastic exclamation can get people excited about what the quote has to say. It can inspire them to action. A reflective question can make them consider what meaning the quote holds for them; how they may apply this quote in their own life. Whatever form it comes in, the engagement hook is meant to help you start conversations on Twitter.

Engagement hooks are what make our quotes different from other quotes on Twitter. When you sign up with Nimble Quotes, you don’t just get a slew of quotable sayings – you get meaningful quotes with thoughtful, reflective engagement hooks attached to them.

Where Do We Get Engagement Hooks?

Our writers and editors think about how each individual quote can be used to spark a conversation with your Twitter followers, interpreting what that quote means. They then write a meaningful engagement hook, getting right to the heart of the quote.

We put all of this thought into the engagement hooks because we want to help our users participate in the conversation, break the ice with their followers. The curated, high-quality quotes are already a helpful addition to your Twitter account; the engagement hook gives each quote a boost to start an interaction.

Start Today

So if you’d like to add this quality content to your Twitter account try out the Nimble Quotes’ 30-day free trial! You’ll get 1-8 quotes (yes, with engagement hooks) per day as well as a choice of other personalized settings. Click here to get started. Not ready? Sign up for the Nimble Quotes newsletter instead.

Have you ever heard the saying “all work and no play make Jack a dull boy?” That’s as true for Twitter as it is for kids. Many business accounts I see (and even those of entrepreneurs I talk to) take their social media strategies way too seriously.

Yes, tweeting about promos, sales and marketing content has its place. But if that’s all you’re doing, then you’re not using Twitter to its fullest advantage. If you want to connect with the Twitterverse, you have to introduce some fun into your stream.

Mixing it up keeps things fresh

Have you ever had that one friend who only talked about work? His work? It might be interesting at first, but you’d get pretty sick of that pretty fast. Your followers might feel the same way if the only thing you do when using Twitter for business is tweet self-promotional things.

Mixing it up with other kinds of content—whether it’s your own or from other people—is a great way to keep things fresh. You don’t have to share cat videos if it doesn’t match your social media strategy or brand image. Try sharing informational articles, interesting statistics, or poignant thoughts.

Prioritize connection, not promotion

What’s the most important social media metric you should be tracking? Nope, it’s not followers or likes. It’s engagement.

If you want to get traction with your social media strategy, you have to both engage people in conversations, and put out content that encourages conversation, too. Show people that you’re not just throwing out link after link on your Twitter business account. Talk to people and get to know each other. That way, you’ll forge stronger connections with the online community and people will see you’re not a mindless robot.

Brand building is more than just “work” tweets

The word “brand” now has such a stuffy and serious connotation. But really, “brand” is just a fancy word to describe your company’s personality. And remember what I said before? A person who just talks about work has a dull personality. Commenting about your industry or sharing a quote from an industry expert furthers your brand just as much as tweeting about a sale.

So don’t be dull. Dare to be interesting. Dare to express yourself. Dare to be—god forbid—funny. Not only will you connect with people online better, but you may even start enjoying yourself on social media.